Manufacture of russia iron



(No Model.)

- A. HILES.

MANUFACTURE OF RUSSIA IRON.

No. 535,587. 7 Patented Mar. 12, 1 895 III/114;

26572061396 I 1 427 2 0672 0 7f -11 I v I 5 JZZ Q.

NITED STATES ALFRED HILES, OF OIIARTIERS, PENNSYLVANIA.

MANUFACTURE OF RUSSIA IRON.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 535,587, dated March 12, 1895. I Application filed May 5, 1893. Serial No. 473,148- (No model.)

To wZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED HILES, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Ohartiers, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Making Russia Iron, of which the following is a speci fication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to a process for producing Russia or planished iron.

The chief objects of my invention may be briefly set forth as embodying an inexpensive, and simple process requiring a cheap organization of apparatus accompanied by economic consumption of materials usually employed in connection therewith in processes of this nature.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, I have illustrated an apparatus embodying the essential features necessary in carrying out my improved process, and referring thereto Figure 1 is a view of a vat provided with a rack to sustain the sheets in a vertical position in the vat and out of contact with each other and the sides of the vat. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the finishing pot furnished with the rolls, guides, the. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the finishing pot.

Sheet iron which is to be treated by this process should be removed from the heat or rolling apparatus before ithas been reduced to the gage which is desired for the finished material, and after being trimmed and opened, it is pickled, and subsequently rinsed and dried. The surface of the metal is now rough, and if necessary, it may be an nealed preparatory to the first step of my process, but annealing is not essential to my process, and the plates may be treated thereto immediately after leaving the pickle.

The sheets after being separated from the pack are placed in the vat and arranged in the rack, A, which is illustrated in Fig. 1, in such positions as to be out of contact with each other, whereby their surfaces are wholly exposed to the action of the liquid contained in the vat. The vat is filled with tallow, palm oil, or tar which is maintained at a boiling temperature. The metal being porous and being expanded under the influence of the heat imparted by the boiling liquid, it will absorb the latter. removed to the pot which is filled with boiling grease or ,tallow, tar, pitch, or rosin, and

in which the rolls B are so arranged that their lower surfaces dip slightly into the liquid. Suitable guides, O, are employed, the same being of such shape and construction as tolead through the liquid contained in the receptacle, whereby as the plates are fed thereinto, they are carried through the tallow and while yet coated with the grease are passed between, and subjected to the press ure of, the rolls. The rolls are maintained at the temperature of the liquid in the vat by contact therewith, and their surfaces are normally supplied and enveloped with a sheet of the hot grease which is thus brought into more intimate contact with the surfaces of the plate and is thereby incorporated in the molecular structure of the sheet. These rolls perform the function, and take the place of, the finishing rolls usually employed for reducing the sheets to the commercial gage, and therefore, after having been passed therethrough, the grease which has been absorbed by the hot porous metal during its passage through the pot is confined within the pores of the body of the metal by the closure of the surface pores, thus rendering the finished material pliable and giving to its surface the glossy blue-blaok appearance which is characteristic of Russia iron.

Owing to the fact that the sheets are subjected to the pressure of the rolls while they are completely enveloped in, and saturated by, the boiling grease, which excludes the air and prevents its detrimental effects, the formation of scale is obviated, which is a great desideratum'in that the marring of the surfaces of the plates due to the rolling thereinto of the scale is entirely overcome.

The above described process gives the iron an oily nature which protects it from oxidation and corrosion.

My invention is clearly defined from, and I do not claim, such methods of coating or glazing plates wherein the plates are treated with an oil bath and then placed in a pile between plates, not so coated, and heated to a cherry heat after which the pile is rolled and reduced in thickness. Such a process would The sheets are nowdefeat the primary object of my invention and destroy the advantages and benefits which are attained by my invention by bringing the rolls into direct contact with the plates while the plates are in the bath and the surfaces thereof being rolled are out of contact with the air and covered by the compound of the bath so that the surface pores of the metal are closed thereby effectually confining the grease within the pores of the plate.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The herein described method of] manufacturing Russia iron which consists in placing the previously treated plates in a hot grease bath and reducing said plates in thickness while in and. covered with the hot grease by means of reducing rolls in said hot grease bath and coated with the same, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED HILES.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH O. MONTGOMERY, F. R. McGREw, 

